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We've always been cat people. But since our last cat developed end-state liver disease and departed for that great field of catnip in the sky after a sudden and rapid decline in her health, I just didn't have the heart to acquire another animal. Until last week.
We were catsitting for our kids who were off camping over the long weekend. I was servicing the cats' litterboxes, I used up the last of a bag of litter and couldn't find a new bag. No problem, I thought - we'll just go get another bag of the same type of litter and bring it over when we make our next catsitting visit.
So after completing that catsitting visit, we went off to buy groceries. As my partner took those groceries back to the car, I thought I would nip into the pet store next door and see about getting that kitty-litter. They were restocking the shelves in that area, so I wandered around a bit and inevitably stopped by the kitten enclosures. And in one of them was a 6-month-old calico kitten who, from her markings, could almost have been a reincarnation of our dear departed cat. This kitten was very much alive, however, a playful, affectionate, loud-purred creature. I was instantly smitten.
I did then locate the kitty litter I'd wanted and headed back to the car, encountering aforementioned partner on the way and explaining about the delay. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, on returning to the pet-shop, we both felt that this was meant to be, and following a token mull-it-over over cappuccino, we adopted the cat.
Like many petshops, this one features Ottawa Humane Society cats that are available for adoption. We had to go through and sign a detailed contract and were a little afraid we might not give the right answers to all their questions! So it was quite bureaucratic, a sharp contrast to the "Here, take this cat because we don't want it" approach to relinquishing a cat to our care which we've encountered in the past. On the plus side, however, she was already spayed, vaccinated and microchipped and came with a 6-week trial of pet insurance (which we may or may not continue with after the trial period expires). And she seems to be a really sweet-natured cat, without a lot of the psychological and emotional "baggage" our last cats had. We're taking her to our vet on Monday for a once-over.
I seem to recall my mother once asking me, "Will you ALWAYS have a cat?" Well, this one may even outlive us both!
We were catsitting for our kids who were off camping over the long weekend. I was servicing the cats' litterboxes, I used up the last of a bag of litter and couldn't find a new bag. No problem, I thought - we'll just go get another bag of the same type of litter and bring it over when we make our next catsitting visit.
So after completing that catsitting visit, we went off to buy groceries. As my partner took those groceries back to the car, I thought I would nip into the pet store next door and see about getting that kitty-litter. They were restocking the shelves in that area, so I wandered around a bit and inevitably stopped by the kitten enclosures. And in one of them was a 6-month-old calico kitten who, from her markings, could almost have been a reincarnation of our dear departed cat. This kitten was very much alive, however, a playful, affectionate, loud-purred creature. I was instantly smitten.
I did then locate the kitty litter I'd wanted and headed back to the car, encountering aforementioned partner on the way and explaining about the delay. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, on returning to the pet-shop, we both felt that this was meant to be, and following a token mull-it-over over cappuccino, we adopted the cat.
Like many petshops, this one features Ottawa Humane Society cats that are available for adoption. We had to go through and sign a detailed contract and were a little afraid we might not give the right answers to all their questions! So it was quite bureaucratic, a sharp contrast to the "Here, take this cat because we don't want it" approach to relinquishing a cat to our care which we've encountered in the past. On the plus side, however, she was already spayed, vaccinated and microchipped and came with a 6-week trial of pet insurance (which we may or may not continue with after the trial period expires). And she seems to be a really sweet-natured cat, without a lot of the psychological and emotional "baggage" our last cats had. We're taking her to our vet on Monday for a once-over.
I seem to recall my mother once asking me, "Will you ALWAYS have a cat?" Well, this one may even outlive us both!
